About Malaysian Biodiesel

Biodiesel is a biofuel that is used as a direct substitute to conventional petroleum diesel (i.e. fossil fuel). Molecularly, biodiesel in general refers to fatty acids methyl ester (FAME) that is produced from vegetable and animal oils and fats through chemical processes such as transesterification and esterification with methanol.

Biodiesel produced by MBA members are palm-based, which is a renewable raw material that is available readily in Malaysia. The use of palm biodiesel generates significant greenhouse gas (GHG) savings and contributes to better air quality with much lower polycyclic aromatic carbon (PAH) emissions, typically found in burning fossil fuels. In a multi-year full life cycle assessment (LCA) of the Malaysian palm oil from the nursery to palm biodiesel conducted by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) from 2004 – 2010; MPOB demonstrated that the total GHG savings with biogas capture is about 76%, which far exceeds the 2018 requirements of 60% set in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) of the European Commission (EC). The US EPA has also determined that biodiesel can reduce harmful PAH emissions by up to 80% when it is directly compared to conventional diesel. Therefore, biodiesel usage will help to reduce GHG emission for the transport sector and also contribute to a cleaner emission of transport exhaust.

Palm biodiesel is used in the Malaysian Government’s mandatory biodiesel blending programme in the transport sector since June 2011. Its use will be expanded to the industrial sector in the near future. Malaysian palm biodiesel has also been exported since 2006 to several countries in the EU as well as Asia and to the US. Palm biodiesel produced by MBA members conforms to international standards such as the EN 14214 (European standards) and ASTM D6751 (US standards) and its own local standards i.e. the MS 2008: 2008.